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The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent beginning in November 2023.
The bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, earned 17 cosponsors from both parties in the upper chamber and was passed by unanimous consent. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has long been a proponent of making the clock change permanent and led the push to pass the bill.
“The good news is if we can get this passed, we don’t have to keep doing this stupidity anymore,” Rubio said on the Senate floor. “Hopefully, this is the year that this gets done and, pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come.”
Rubio, the lead sponsor of the proposal, said the move was “a big, sensible step forward.” He previously shared a number of benefits to making daylight saving time permanent.
“There’s strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has. There’s an increase in heart attacks, car accidents, and pedestrian accidents,” he said.
If enacted into law, Americans would no longer lose an hour of daylight in the fall, but it would also mean early risers would lose an hour of daylight in the mornings from November-February.
Twenty states have passed legislation enacting year-round DST. However, a change in the federal statute is required for the change to apply.
If passed by the House and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Sunshine Protection Act would apply to those states that currently participate in DST, which most states observe for eight months out of the year. States and territories that currently remain on Standard Time year-round would continue to do so.
According to an AP poll, most Americans want to stop switching between daylight saving and standard time. However, there’s a divide between which should be used all year.
